DreamJobbing - The Final Day

So, I'm in this dreamjobbing competition for a chance to be a tv producer for CBS for a week. The competition is fierce, but we're really close to pulling this off. If you haven't voted for me, yet today, please do. It only takes a minute, they won't spam you, and EVERY VOTE COUNTS. Also, today is supposed to be the last day of voting. So, will you help bring this possibility one step closer by getting me to the final round by voting?

DreamJobbing

DreamJobbing - The Long Haul (Please Vote)

So, about a month ago, via Twitter I learned from John Cochran (the SURVIVOR winner who gave hope to all those nerdy guys out there like me) about a contest to win a week dream job as a producer for the tv show THE MILLERS. I made a short video late one night and uploaded it. Since then, THE MILLERS has been cancelled, but I'm in the running to make it to the final round for a chance to work for a week on a CBS tv show!

I'm in this for the long haul, but I have to be in the Top 20 before the voting closes in just 3 days. So, if you would, please take a moment and vote for me. This is a close race and the person in the 19th and 20th position have changed several times the past few days. As I write this, I'm only 85 votes away from being at 20!  Every vote counts. If I ultimately end up winning the contest, this would be an incredibly opportunity and experience for me. However, I really cannot do it without you. So, if you would, please click on the link below, log in (or register) and vote. It only takes a moment. Thank you!

DreamJobbing

Meet James Best (Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on THE DUKES OF HAZZARD) This Friday

Ever see THE DUKES OF HAZZARD? Well, Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best) will be in Greenville, IL this Friday and Saturday. He will be giving a special one-man show at the Globe Theatre Friday night and will be at Greenville Graffiti on Saturday as an honored guest and judge. If you are available Friday evening, I highly recommend you come out for the one-man show. It's not all that well known outside the entertainment community, but Best ran one of the most respected acting workshops in Hollywood for several decades. In addition to his cast mates on THE DUKES OF HAZZARD he was a mentor to Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Gary Busey, Teri Garr, Lindsay Wagner, Farrah Fawcett, and even Quentin Tarantino. If you have an interest in the movie business, this is one show you don't want to miss out on. Hollywood doesn't come this close to your neighborhood very often

FULL HOUSE Men on LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON

Jimmy Fallon's getting ready to take over THE TONIGHT SHOW and last night the guys from FULL HOUSE helped him overcome some of his fears.



The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy Is on Your Screen

Everyone should read this article:

http://nymag.com/news/features/chait-liberal-movies-tv-2012-8/

TV Shows and Moral Contexts

"When TV shows move us to sympathize with a hero who may be an outlaw or may take the law into his own hands, they're doing something dangerous. They may teach us sympathy; they may teach us not to judge people or their actions too quickly. But they may also teach us it's okay to believe what we feel like believing in one moment, only to change our minds and believe something else in the next. We need to be careful."
  
Charlie W. Starr, "Cop Shows and moral contexts", The Lookout, April, 22, 2012, p. 14.

A Word About THE MUPPETS Movie

I believe I've mentioned this before and I'm sure I'll mention it again at some point, but I was partially "raised" by The Muppets. What I mean by that is that I watched a lot of Muppets growing up: SESAME STREET (it used to actually be good tv), THE MUPPET SHOW, FRAGGLE ROCK, and THE STORYTELLER. All those shows had Muppets (and in most cases Jim Henson had a hand in designing them in some way). I think THE MUPPET SHOW was my favorite. It was this sweet show with a huge heart that never spoke down to kids. The humor of THE MUPPET SHOW was classic humor: it's the type of stuff they used to do on vaudeville, radio, and in the golden age of television. Sometimes the humor was subtle, sometimes it was corny, but it was humor that people from every age and walk of life could enjoy. You don't see that very much anymore. Jokes are beaten to the point they are dead and the humor isn't even humor anymore. In short, THE MUPPET SHOW was full of wit and in our current cultural landscape, wit has been forgotten.

THE MUPPETS is a movie all about bringing back wit in this forgotten age. It's about friends, family, and finding your place in the world. It's a movie that dares to threaten the void that is our cultural landscape and shout, "Hey, you think you're funny? You're not funny. This is funny!" At the same time, there is a thread of irony that runs through the film. All through the movie Kermit and the gang question themselves that, perhaps, they really aren't relevant anymore. As the villain of the film proudly boasts, the world has moved on since the Muppets last were popular (the last Muppet movie was MUPPETS IN SPACE released in the summer of 1999-I can tell you where I was when I saw it and even give you the location of the theatre). The world's a much more dark, sinister, and dangerous place. No planes had flown into skyscrapers when a Muppet movie last played in movie theatres. In 1999, unemployment in the U.S. hovered around 4%, the lowest it had been in 30 years and the longest war in U.S. history was still that conflict in Vietnam (Afghanistan, where's that?).

Yet, though this is a darker and more dangerous world, there still is goodness. The Muppets are good, they are joyful, and they are hopeful. We can all do with a lot more of that in our lives.

Stephen Colbert Sings "Friday" on Jimmy Fallon

Just for fun. I found this video highly entertaining. Even a yeti likes the song.

If "Friday" is as terrible as many people say, why does it have over 82,000,000 hits on YouTube and why are Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Taylor Hicks singing the song? The lyrics are lame, but they really are not that much different than other songs in pop music.

Harper's Island

This fall (August-October 2011), I'm directing the play 10 Little Indians. The play revolves around a group of people invited to an island for a weekend by an unknown person. Each person has been invited by a different reason. As the plot progresses, the guests are murdered off one by one in a variety of ghastly ways and it becomes clear that the killer is on the island and is probably one of the people in the group.

I'm a sucker for research and as part of my research for the play, I looked into the latest "adaptation" of Agatha Christie's most famous story: the tv series Harper's Island.

Harper's Island was a 13 episode series that aired on CBS from April-July 2009. The show revolved around a group of people that came together at Harper's Island for a wedding. Even before the guests arrive on the island, murder is secretly committed. As the wedding approaches, the wedding party their island friends are murdered off one by one. As the show progresses, it's clear that the killer has to be one of the people involved with the wedding.

I remember when the series aired, but I never had an opportunity to actually watch much of it because it was summer and I was busy. I'm glad I took the chance to view the show now. I was really impressed. There are some cliches and typical horror cheesiness. However, there's also some really original stuff done on the show. The thing I found most impressive was the characterization. There are over 25 major characters in the show and other than one or two, they all become quite well developed. As a viewer, you come to really care for the characters. Most of them have some incredible and highly believable arcs. There are some disappointments, for instance the concluding episode was a bit of a let down and I don't think it was necessary to kill off almost the entire cast. Still, overall, the show was highly entertaining and it's made me more excited about the play I'll be directing.

The show's producers had wanted to do more seasons of the show, but each season would feature an entirely different cast, different location, and different story. It's a great idea, but because of the lackluster ratings (it ranked in the middle of the ratings for most of the time it aired), CBS canceled it. I think if the show had aired in the fall, it would have gotten the ratings the network wanted. I know it will probably never happen, but it would be nice to see this show resurrected. If I was a television executive, I'd give it the green light and make sure that it aired at a proper time. A show like this that is well done can be highly successful and it could be pitched as a kind of The Walking Dead meets Survivor (a combination that other tv execs are sure to drool over). If you like mysteries and don't mind a bit of blood, you should check out Harper's Island.

Jeff Bridges' SNL Promos

Jeff Bridges is hosting Saturday Night Live this Saturday, December 18, 2010. Like most of the guest hosts for the show, there's a series of short promos that are airing on tv this week. Below are the three Jeff made. The best of the three is the last one where Jeff introduces Joel and Ethan Coen. It made me laugh.

Craig Ferguson and Doctor Who

Who's the real king of late night? Craig Ferguson.

The 3 Most Disturbing Words on TV

Mike Cosper wrote a very interesting essay about a week ago about the kind of messages that tv sends and how certain tv shows (not the ones you probably think) can subtly affect one's beliefs and values. Cosper writes:

"Good art tells the truth, and sometimes the truth is ugly. Sometimes people who suffer don’t receive a reward. Sometimes the truth involves sinful people doing sinful things, and in telling a story (even a redemptive story) it’s necessary to talk about that darkness. Sometimes what appears to be good for the heart and the family is actually an idol in disguise. At all points in the spectrum, individual tolerance for media should be constrained by a Scripture-soaked and gospel-informed conscience and by the input and feedback of our community in the church."

Read the whole essay here.

Thanks to Justin Taylor for pointing this essay out.

The Return of Conan

Last night, Conan O'Brien returned to television. Here's the opening sequence to the first episode of his new show on TBS.

I've got to say, it's nice see Conan back on tv. He has a style all of his own. A lot of people over 30 just don't get his humor. It can be a little darker and more bizarre than what you'll usually find with a talk show host, but it works. Here's hoping NBC will have to eat crow.

Jennifer Grey and DANCING WITH THE STARS

I have a confession to make: I'm semi-addicted to the current season of DANCING WITH THE STARS. Until a couple months ago, I had never seen an episode of the show. However, one of the contestants this season is Kurt Warner. Warner was one of my Dad's favorite football players of all time and I know if he was still alive, he would be watching the show because of Warner. Warner's retired from football and hasn't lived in St. Louis for years, but there are a lot of people in and around the St. Louis area who still remember him for the classy athlete he is.

Anyway, so I've seen four episodes this season and there are some things I noticed very quickly. First of all, the judges have their favorites. This was evident from the very beginning. They probably won't ever admit it, but they do. It's obvious in their comments and how they relate with the contestants.

I'm not sure how other seasons have been, but this season had two contestants who had a huge advantage over the other contestants: Brandy and Jennifer Grey. Brandy is a huge musical act with a major background not only in singing, but dancing. As for Grey, one her biggest claims to fame (after being the daughter of legendary character actor Joel Grey) is that she was the lead female in the movie Dirty Dancing. I know the dancing in that movie wasn't quite the same thing and Grey has had some physical ailments that have hindered her physicality in recent years. However, unlike a lot of the contestants on the show, she's not a dancing novice.

I'm not trying to be flippant because I know Grey was in a major car accident a few years ago and also had thyroid cancer. However, she seems to be a major whiner. She's always complaining about some body part or other hurting or about how hard it is for a woman her age to be competing. I think a lot of it is just a show for the cameras for sympathy. I've never seen her wince once during the actual competition. Not only that, but she is clearly the judges favorite. There have been a couple of times where she made some error (I'm not a dancer, so if you make an error and I catch it, you know it's big), but the judges have glossed over it and given her a 9 or 10. She also is really good at putting on a big emotional display, usually accompanied with tears, for the judges after dancing.

Jennifer Grey is the woman the judges want to win. Just think of the headlines: DIRTY DANCING STAR WINS DANCING WITH THE STARS. Personally, the consistent whining I've heard from her has really turned me off and I hope she gets voted out off before the finale.

New BACK TO THE FUTURE commercial

Next week the cast of Back to the Future is reuniting on Spike TV at the 2010 Scream Awards. In honor of the event they've re-created the original tv commercial for the movie. Michael J. Fox, Nikes, and a DeLorean. What could be better?

R.I.P. Stephen J. Cannell

I just found out that Stephen J. Cannell died a couple of days ago from complications from melanoma (skin cancer). A lot of people might not know who Cannell is, but at one time he was one of the most powerful tv executives around. He created two of my favorite tv shows that I watched as a kid: The Greatest American Hero and The A-Team. He was the creator of a lot of other shows too, including The Rockford Files, Hunter, Hardcastle and McCormick, Wiseguy, The Commish, and Renegade. He was a producer who was very hands on with his projects: he wrote many of the shows he produced, he directed a lot of them, and some of them he even acted in.

Book Review: TV'S GREATEST GAME SHOWS

I’ve always been a fan of game shows. The best game shows aren’t just entertaining, but include an element of education, whether through trivia, word games, or musical memory. I’ve auditioned for several game shows, but have never been selected as a contestant. I also enjoy watching episodes of old game shows. The best ones are still entertaining today. Some of the best game shows ever to air on American television are reviewed in TV's Greatest Game Shows.

The book begins with a preface by the author where he discusses his love for game shows and his experiences on trying to get on JEOPARDY! and WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? An introduction follows that gives a short history of U.S. game shows.

Each of the games reviewed begin with a snapshot of the show’s main credits: the dates the series aired, the network the show aired on, the hosts of the show, the series creators, the show’s producers, and the show’s director. If a show was revived or aired on a different network, that information follows the credit info about the original show in the same format. Following the credit info, there is a short synopsis about the show. Depending on the popularity or impact of a game show, the synopsis is as short as a paragraph or as long as several pages. Usually some bits of trivia or lines from the show are included. There’s also a section discussing some of the most famous of game show hosts. Shows included in the book range from AMERICAN GLADIATORS to JEOPARDY! to MATCH GAME to PASSWORD to WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE to I’VE GOT A SECRET.

The book is really easy to read. Like the best game shows, I found it both entertaining and informative. TV's Greatest Game Shows makes a great reference guide about game shows as well as a nice gift for anyone who enjoys game shows.

President Obama on THE VIEW?

This morning as I looked at the news blurbs from Yahoo! News one in particular caught my eye: "Obama opens up on 'The View'". I did a literal double-take. I thought to myself that there's no way that could be correct. But, it was. The President of the United States appeared on morning television at a women's coffee klatch.

Seriously?...Come on, really?... Seriously???

Barack Obama is the President of the United States. I opposed him when he was a candidate, but he won. Even though I disagree with many of the policies and laws he's campaigned Congress to enact, I've tried to give the man the respect that a person in the Office of the President deserves. I pray for the man. But when you are the President of the United States and you are a guest on "The View" you not only set yourself up for ridicule, but it shows nothing but disrespect and disgrace for the Office of the President. You make yourself not only to be a laughingstock, but also the Office of the President in general and by extension the entire United States. It leaves me flabbergasted.

Ken Jennings Speaks Out

Ken Jennings, the guy who holds the record for most consecutive wins on JEOPARDY! and has won the most money ever on game shows, has written an interesting article for THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS about reality tv and the dumbing down of America. Dumb tv shows might not a dumb nation make.

Can a Villain Ever Win SURVIVOR again?

I've been a huge fan of the tv show SURVIVOR since it first aired in 2000. I've seen almost every episode (I've missed 3) and have applied for 17 of the 20 seasons (I missed the 1st season and I didn't send in an application for the All-Stars or Heroes Vs. Villains seasons). Richard Hatch won the first SURVIVOR and was seen as being the ultimate villain until this guy, Russell Hantz came on to the scene. Russell is the ultimate villain, including all the arrogance that great villains seem to possess. He basically played the same game that he played in "Heroes Vs. Villains" as he did in "Samoa" and the result was the same: he didn't win. Russell should have won in Samoa, but he made a lot of boneheaded decisions in "Heroes Vs. Villains". However, Russell is really the first true villain since Hatch to make it to the finals, which raises the question, can a villain ever win SURVIVOR again?